Themes and Interpretations in Latin American History
Series editor: Jürgen Buchenau
The books in this series will introduce students to the most significant themes and topics in Latin American history. They represent a novel approach to designing supplementary texts for this growing market. Intended as supplementary textbooks, the books will also discuss the ways in which historians have interpreted these themes and topics, thus demonstrating to students that our understanding of our past is constantly changing, through the emergence of new sources, methodologies, and historical theories. Unlike monographs, the books in this series will be broad in scope and written in a style accessible to undergraduates.
A History of the Cuban Revolution, Second Edition
Aviva Chomsky
Bartolomé de las Casas and the Conquest of the Americas
Lawrence A. Clayton
Beyond Borders: A History of Mexican Migration to the United States
Timothy J. Henderson
The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregón and the Mexican Revolution
Jürgen Buchenau
A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution
Jeremy Popkin
Spaniards in the Colonial Empire: Creoles vs. Peninsulars?
Mark A. Burkholder
Dictatorship in South America
Jerry Dávila
Mothers Making Latin America
Erin E. O’Connor
Second Edition
This edition first published 2015
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Edition history: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (1e, 2011)
Registered Office
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
Editorial Offices
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK
The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell.
The right of Aviva Chomsky to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chomsky, Aviva, 1957–
A history of the Cuban Revolution / Aviva Chomsky. – Second edition.
pages cm
Original edition published in 2011.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-94228-4 (pbk.)
1. Cuba–History–Revolution, 1959. 2. Cuba–History–Revolution, 1959–Influence. I. Title.
F1788.C465 2015
972.9106′4–dc23
2014040325
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover image: José Fuster, Untitled, 2003. Reproduced by kind permission of the artist.
Collection of Janine & Joseph Gonyea III, Photograph by Jonathan B. Smith.
Map 1 | Cuba with major cities |
Map 2 | Cuba with respect to the Caribbean and the Americas |
Figure I.1 | Billboard quoting José Martí: “Either Free Forever, or Forever Fighting to be Free” |
Figure 1.1 | Bust of Hatuey in the main plaza of Baracoa in eastern Cuba. “Hatuey: The First Rebel of America. Burned at the Stake in Yara, Baracoa.” Oriente Workers Lodge |
Figure 1.2 | Print by Cuban artist Sandra Ramos, “Seremos como el Che” (We will be like Che) |
Figure 2.1 | Literacy Museum in Ciudad Libertad outside of Havana, 2000 |
Figure 3.1 | Billboard near Playa Girón. “Girón: First Defeat of Yankee Imperialism in Latin America” |
Figure 5.1 | ICAIC headquarters, Havana, 2008 |
Figure 7.1 | A bodega in Havana, 2009 |
Figure 7.2 | A dollar store in Havana, 2008 |
Figure 7.3 | A farmers’ market in Havana, 2000 |
Each book in the “Viewpoints/Puntos de Vista” series introduces students to a significant theme or topic in Latin American history. In an age in which student and faculty interest in the Global South increasingly challenges the old focus on the history of Europe and North America, Latin American history has assumed an increasingly prominent position in undergraduate curricula.
Some of these books discuss the ways in which historians have interpreted these themes and topics, thus demonstrating that our understanding of our past is constantly changing, through the emergence of new sources, methodologies, and historical theories. Others offer an introduction to a particular theme by means of a case study or biography in a manner easily understood by the contemporary, non-specialist reader. Yet others give an overview of a major theme that might serve as the foundation of an upper-level course.
What is common to all of these books is their goal of historical synthesis. They draw on the insights of generations of scholarship on the most enduring and fascinating issues in Latin American history, while also making use of primary sources as appropriate. Each book is written by a specialist in Latin American history who is concerned with undergraduate teaching, yet who has also made his or her mark as a first-rate scholar.
The books in this series can be used in a variety of ways, recognizing the differences in teaching conditions at small liberal arts colleges, large public universities, and research-oriented institutions with doctoral programs. Faculty have particular needs depending on whether they teach large lectures with discussion sections, small lecture or discussion-oriented classes, or large lectures with no discussion sections, and whether they teach on a semester or trimester system. The format adopted for this series fits all of these different parameters.
Now in its second edition, this volume was the inaugural book in the “Viewpoints/Puntos de Vista” series. In A History of the Cuban Revolution, Avi Chomsky provides a compelling and fascinating synthesis of the Cuban Revolution. Drawing on historical literature and primary sources from Cuba, Europe, and the United States, the author takes the reader on a historical tour, from the beginning of the revolution in the Sierra Maestra up to the present day. Along the way, Professor Chomsky covers the emergence of Fidel Castro’s rule, the dramatic confrontation with the United States that included the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, before considering the revolution’s course and its social and cultural legacies. The first edition of Professor Chomsky’s text was a great success, and we are pleased to present a second edition. This new edition not only brings the story of the Cuban Revolution up to the present and adds a timeline and glossary, but it also updates Professor Chomsky’s analysis as a result of the input from students, faculty, and new scholarship that has appeared in the last five years.
Many thanks to Peter Coveney and Jürgen Buchenau, who proposed this project to me and who have helped it along at every juncture. Several anonymous readers provided welcome suggestions for both the proposal and the manuscript. Thanks also to copyeditor Gail Ferguson and to my sister-in-law Amy Apel for indexing the book. Above all, I must thank Alfredo Prieto and his family. Alfredo has been my guide to Cuba and socio in Cuba-related intellectual and political endeavors over the past decade. Hundreds of hours of conversations in Havana, Maine, Massachusetts, and even Miami, have helped me better understand the complexities of Cuba’s past and present. Alfredo also served as editor extraordinaire for this manuscript, catching errors, reminding me of what I’d missed, and pushing me towards new discoveries. ¡Muchísimas gracias!
1493 | Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba |
1868 | Grito de Yara sets off Ten Years’ War (beginning of struggle for independence) |
1879 | Guerra Chiquita (second phase of war of independence) |
1886 | Slavery abolished |
1891 | José Martí publishes “Our America” |
1895 | Cuban War of Independence renewed |
1898 | U.S. intervention/Spanish − Cuban − American War |
1901 | Constitution incorporates Platt Amendment |
1902 | U.S. withdrawal |
1912 | Massacre of Afro-Cubans |
1920 | CNOC founded; PCC founded |
1923 | FEU founded |
1925 | Gerardo Machado president |
1933 | Machado overthrown, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes installed, then replaced by Ramón Grau San Martín |
1934 | Constitution; Platt Amendment abrogated |
1940 | Fulgencio Batista president; 1940 Constitution |
1947 | Partido Ortodoxo founded |
1952 | Coup by Fulgencio Batista |
1953 | Failed attack on Moncada Barracks launches July 26th Movement |
1958 | Granma sails from Mexico to Cuba |
1959 | Cuban Revolution victorious; first Land Reform proclaimed; Casa de las Américas founded; ICAIC founded |
1960 | Urban Reform Law; CDRs established; FMC established; U.S. imposes economic embargo and travel ban |
1961 | Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs) invasion; literacy campaign; Fidel Castro declares Revolution socialist |
1962 | Missile Crisis |
1963 | First Cuban medical mission abroad, in Algeria |
1965 | UMAP established |
1966 | U.S. passes Cuban Adjustment Act |
1970 | Ten Million Ton harvest |
1972 | Cuba joins COMECON |
1975 | Partido Comunista de Cuba First Party Congress; U.S. Senate Committee (Church Committee) investigation of assassination plots against Fidel Castro; Cuba sends forces to Angola to help MPLA repel South African invasion; Family Code |
1976 | Constitution establishes Cuba as a socialist state |
1977 | Cuban troops support Ethiopia against Somalia |
1980 | Mariel Boatlift |
1982 | Foreign investment code |
1986 | Rectification campaign rolls back market openings |
1989 | Collapse of Soviet bloc leads to economic crisis |
1991 | Special Period in Time of Peace declared |
1992 | Constitutional Amendments allow foreign investment in joint ventures and declare Cuba a secular (rather than atheist) state; Torricelli Bill strengthens U.S. embargo |
1993 | Dollar legalized; UBPCs created to cooperativize state farms |
1994 | Farmers’ markets reinstituted; exodus of rafters |
1995 | Clinton implements Wet Foot, Dry Foot policy; paladares authorized |
1996 | Raúl Castro speech signals slowing of economic reforms; Helms-Burton Act strengthens U.S. embargo |
1998 | Cuba establishes Latin American Medical School; Pope John Paul II visits Cuba; Varela Project established; Hugo Chávez elected in Venezuela |
2000 | Exception to trade embargo allows U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba |
2003 | Convertible peso introduced; 75 dissidents arrested |
2004 | ALBA launched, beginning with petroleum-for-doctors exchange between Cuba and Venezuela |
2006 | Year of the Energy Revolution; Fidel Castro cedes presidency temporarily to his brother Raúl and steps down as First Secretary of the Communist Party |
2008 | National Assembly elects Raúl Castro President of Cuba |
2009 | Cuban authorities arrest USAID contractor Alan Gross |
2010 | Dissidents arrested in 2003 freed in accord brokered by Spain and Catholic Church; self-employment revitalized with new categories created and restrictions on size and employment of workers eased |
2011 | Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba elects Raúl Castro as First Secretary, approves lineamientos (guidelines) for economic and political reform; new housing law allows Cubans to buy and sell real estate |
2013 | New migration law allows Cubans to travel abroad without obtaining an exit visa |
2014 | Cubans permitted to purchase new, imported automobiles from state dealers |